Controversy Loves Company
by emilie whoa
Summary: Bella Swan lives in a world where vampires and humans coexist in a perfectly calculated harmony. Perfect peace can’t last forever, though, can it? Especially when Bella Swan is thrown into the mix.
1. Preface

A/n: Bear with me. I know this is super short, and I know you're all waiting for an update on Made Of Glass (it's coming I promise, but my updates are going to be few and far between, sorry). My life is super hectic and will be for at least the next year. I work full time and I go to school full time and it's a lot for a 19 year old to handle.

Anyways, as I said before, I know this is super short, but it's kind of an experiment. I'm sure people have done the whole, vampires exist and everyone knows about it story line, but I'm hoping to play with it a little. I'm only posting the Preface at the moment, just to see if you guys will actually read it. Plus, I'm not even done with the first chapter yet. I don't want to continue with the story though if you guys aren't willing to read, though, you know?

So give me your feedback. It is much much appreciated.

Disclaimer: Everything is owned by Mrs. Meyer, I'm just playing with her characters.

* * *

The judge sighed from his post and placed the stack of papers he was holding on the desk in front of him. He looked up, finally, his golden eyes staring at Edward, then at me.

"In the case of the murder and transformation of Isabella Swan," he said, "Edward Cullen, how do you plead?"

Edward glanced at me, his lawyer, the judge.

He was going to do it.

"I plead guilty, your honor," he replied.

Was he seriously that stupid?

Of course he was. He _was_ Edward Cullen, after all.


	2. Maybe

A/n: nothing to say really.

Don't own anything. Just the plot, not the characters.

Enjoy. Review. Thanks.

* * *

I'd never been to a school with vampires before. But then again I'd never been in contact with vampires before, either. I wasn't sure whether to be afraid or curious. I wasn't sure if I should even be either. I couldn't tell if the fact that vampires were at my school should even affect me.

God, I really needed to shut my own head up.

Jessica, the girl from my Spanish and Government classes, told me the vampires were the Cullens. I remembered my father briefly telling me once, before I moved to Forks, about a doctor Cullen.

Must be their coven leader, I thought. But a vampire doctor? Weird. I'd heard of vampires being everything except doctors or dentists. It made me instantly respect him for some reason.

These Cullens filed into the lunchroom one by one. Jessica told me each of their names like she was introducing me to friends. I had a feeling, though, that she'd never even talked to them. I wondered briefly what it must have felt like for them, being in high school, talked about constantly behind their backs like they didn't know it. They did though. And that bothered me a little. It must be hard to hear everything these people were saying about them. And to be constantly on display the way they were must be awful.

"That one's Alice," she pointed to the short pixie-like girl, who was leading the way. "She's a clairvoyant apparently. I've never seen it in action, but who knows; maybe she's seen my future with Edward." At this, Jessica smiled wickedly at me.

This girl was delusional. Clearly. Whoever heard of a vampire dating a human? Was that even possible? I supposed it was, but still. The thought was absurd.

It made me wonder, though, which one was Edward.

"That's Jasper," Jessica continued, pointing to the blonde male holding onto Alice. "He and Alice are mates. Jasper's an empath. And the next two are Rosalie and Emmett. They don't have powers. Well, at least not like Alice and Jasper and Edward."

I frowned; that was only four. "So where's this Edward character, then?"

I glanced curiously at the cafeteria doors and saw the bronze haired boy enter. He was most definitely a vampire; the tell tale signs were very apparent. Jessica sighed longingly beside me.

"_That_," she said, lowering her voice a little as if it would make a difference, "is Edward Cullen."

When Jessica said his name, his gaze fell on our table. More particularly, Jessica and me. God, he was gorgeous. No wonder Jessica had deluded herself into believing she'd someday have a chance with him. _I _would die just to be able to hear him speak. I mean, don't get me wrong, I knew vampires were all gorgeous and whatnot; it came with the territory. But there was something different about this Edward kid. He was different. Like he was just made to be perfect in every way, shape, and form. Like he was designed by the gods to be flawless.

The five vampires walked to back of the lunch room and sat by themselves at a table. They didn't bother to get any food – obviously – and talked amongst themselves.

I wondered why they secluded themselves. I mean, I'd never met a vampire before, but I heard stories from people who had. Most vampires were more than happy to interact with humans, but the Cullens seemed to steer away from them. I could understand a little bit because of the fact that vampires tended to get a lot of unwanted attention. Perhaps it was worse for those who attended public education institutions. Especially high school in a small town like Forks.

Humans, in a few cases, still steered clear of vampires. They were afraid that a vampires control wouldn't be enough to keep the bloodlust in check (obviously they weren't aware that if a vampire lost control, they would be put on trial and we all knew where that led; death – for real). Then there were those freaks who practically worshipped vampires, finding every loophole they could in the Vampire Laws to get themselves changed. It'd been a while since I heard anything about someone becoming a vampire, though.

I always thought it would be kind of cool to live forever, but what would I do with all that time? I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and attempted to refocus on lunch. The task was easier than I presumed, what with Jessica shoving her elbow into my side and all.

"Ow!" I protested, glaring at my new friend while simultaneously rubbing my ribcage.

Jessica glared back at me but seemed happy that I was finally paying attention. She leaned over to me so her mouth was at my ear and whispered, "Edward Cullen is staring at you." Her voice had this incredulous tone to it, like she couldn't believe what was happening right before her eyes.

I glanced over at the Cullens lunch table and sure enough, Edward Cullen was blatantly staring. I was confused; why would he be staring at _me_? I wasn't all that interesting. I was just a normal seventeen-year-old girl trying to survive the trials and tribulations of high school. I whispered a very quiet 'what' in his direction, knowing very well that he could hear me and stared right back.

Edward smirked, rolled his eyes, and then turned back to his siblings.

I shrugged. "Well that was strange," I said.

Jessica's eyes bugged out of her head. "_Strange_?" she practically screeched. "Seriously, that was, like, amazing! I'm so jealous of you."

I couldn't fathom why she would be jealous of plain old me, but hey, Forks was a strange town. There was a lot I couldn't explain.

- - - - -

The rest of the day went smoother than expected. Edward Cullen was in my biology class after lunch, but we sat at completely different ends of the classroom. It didn't stop him, though, from pretty much staring at me the entire period.

God, way to freak a girl out.

Gym class was absolutely horrendous but thanks to my new girl status I wasn't forced to join in on the "fun."

After school I was walked to the truck my father bought me by one of my classmates, Mike Newton. He was overly friendly, blabbing on and on about something that was probably supposed to impress me, but I couldn't care less. I was too busy watching Edward Cullen watch me walk across the parking lot. And for some reason, this time, I got the chills. I couldn't see his face all that clearly from the distance we were at, but I was fairly certain he was glaring at me.

I tried to let it go, but honestly I was a little miffed. After Mike left at my truck, I climbed in, almost on auto pilot and pulled out of the school. The entire way home I kept thinking about Edward and the fact that he was a vampire and that honestly he shouldn't have really cared about me otherwise. I knew I was new in town and all, but seriously, I wasn't all that special.

The more I thought about it, the more disconcerting it became. I kept thinking of scenarios about what I could have possibly done to this guy that would make him stare at me like that every time I was in the same vicinity as him.

Needless to say, scenarios in my head never worked out well. I tended to wander and over think.

And this was where I started to freak myself out.

I shook it off, as best I could, and cruised home in my gigantic truck. I parked on the left side of the driveway, closest to the front door and made my way inside.

I went through the usual afternoon rituals that I had back in Phoenix, although now I had one exception. Instead of spending an hour outside reading like I used to everyday, I jumped straight into homework and had it all finished by the time the doorbell rang. It startled me at first, but I quickly caught my bearings and stood up from the couch.

"Coming," I yelled as I walked to the front door. I didn't know who to expect, but I sure as hell hoped it wasn't someone from school. Maybe it was the Mormons; I would take them over Mike or Jessica any day.

I opened the door, and much to my surprise, Edward Cullen was standing on my doorstep.

I tilted my head to the side and looked very confused. "You're not a Mormon."

Edward blinked a couple times. "Um," he stuttered, "no I'm not. What are you talking about?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. Never mind. What are you doing here?"

"I really don't know, to tell you the truth," he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Was this how all vampires acted? My limited knowledge was beginning to bother me.

"Right," I said slowly, trying to think of what to do. "Do you wanna come in?"

Edward seemed to brighten up a little bit at my question and nodded. I stepped aside and ushered him in and closed the door after him.

"Living room is this way," I told him and led the way. This whole situation was a bit awkward, to be honest. I didn't know what to do, or say; I didn't know how to do anything. It wasn't everyday that a vampire from my high school showed up on my doorstep in the middle of the afternoon after said vampire had been staring at me every opportunity he had during school hours.

We sat on the couch, on opposite ends and stared at each other for a few minutes.

"You're different," Edward blurted suddenly. It wasn't meant to be something said in praise, but rather…I couldn't place it. It was almost as if Edward was befuddled that I was "different." Whatever that meant.

I was taken aback. "Well, gee, thanks. It's not every day that I get a compliment like _that_."

He backtracked. "No, it's not a bad thing, I promise. It's just…I can't read your mind."

"I haven't even been properly introduced to you and you're already insinuating that I'm a freak. _Thanks a lot_."

Edward looked hurt and for some reason, I really didn't like that expression on his face. I wanted to see him smile. I wondered what he looked like when he smiled. Probably even more gorgeous that he normally did.

"Can we start over then?" He asked, almost pleadingly.

I nodded slowly even though there wasn't much to start over with. I just didn't understand why he wanted to in the first place. I was a human; a mundane. I was someone to be written off in his eyes and yet he was sitting on my couch like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Edward took a deep, unnecessary breath and smiled sweetly at me. "Hello," he said, his voice dripping like honey, "my name is Edward Cullen."

I laughed slightly and shook my head before playing along. "Hi," I replied, cheering up quite a bit. "I'm Bella Swan. It's so nice to meet you!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Bella."

I rolled my eyes at him. "So what brings you to my humble abode this afternoon?"

Edward laughed slightly, catching the slightly sarcastic tone in my voice. "Well," he said, "I didn't get a chance to introduce myself to you at school today, and for some reason I felt that it was necessary that we know each other and I thought that maybe you could give me an explanation as to why my gift doesn't work on you."

"Wow, okay, straight to the point. I like you." He smiled and the statement and I continued. "But seriously, I have no idea what you're talking about. Well, I'm a freak, that's what you're talking about."

It was Edward's turn to roll his eyes. "Really, Bella? I hear voices in my head and you say you're the freak? You have issues."

"Says the vampire sitting in my living room telling me my brain doesn't work right or something. And do you always stare at people like that? It gets creepy and stalker-ish after a while, I hope you know."

"I was only staring because I was trying to figure you out. And I'm sorry about frightening you. It was not my objective at all."

"Apology accepted," I said, and got back on topic. "So okay, you can't read my mind. Has that ever happened to you before? Jessica told me that those other two you were with, Alice and Jasper, they have powers too. Do I not work on them either?"

Edward smiled at all the questions I fired at him. "No, it's never happened before, which is why it's so perplexing and why I'm trying to figure it out. And yes, Alice and Jasper also have powers, but they have no problem reading you."

I contemplated this for a second. "Well at least I'm not a complete and utter freak of nature," I shrugged.

"This is so strange for me. I'm so used to knowing everything about a person and not ever having to talk to them. You're a complete mystery to me. I'm not entirely sure I like that." It seemed more like he was talking to himself, but I still added my two cents.

"Yeah, well I kind of like the fact that you can't pry into my brain, thank you."

Edward lifted an eyebrow curiously. "I thought you didn't like that your brain doesn't work right."

I frowned. "I didn't. I don't." I stopped for a second and sorted out my thoughts. "I don't like the fact that maybe I'm a little broken. But I do like the fact that I have some privacy. My thoughts are my own and I like to keep it that way unless I want to share them."

"I completely agree," Edward said, nodding with a sense of finality. "Would you oppose to letting me get to know you, though?"

I smiled in spite of myself. "Not entirely, no."

- - - - -

"I must admit," Edward mused as he stretched like a cat and settled back into the couch cushions, "that it is a bit frustrating not knowing your thoughts."

I looked at the vampire curiously. "Why is it frustrating?"

"I never know if you're telling me the truth or if you're holding something back or if you're lying to me completely."

I'd lost track of time around the bit in our ongoing conversation when I dove into a long and boring story about how I ended up in Forks in the first place. Edward didn't seem to mind, though, when I prattled on and on about how my mother seemed to think it was time I "got to know my father." As if a strong male influence on me would make any difference at my age. If was seven, I would understand. But seventeen? My mother was ridiculous. Of course, she probably only made the excuse to be able to kick me out of the house.

He listened diligently as I rambled off subject about being sad when leaving Phoenix and about how much I missed my friends. I got the sense that he understood and sympathized on some level and it often made me wonder how much he remembered of his human life.

"You're just going to have to trust me when I say that I don't lie to people." I said, bringing myself back to the present and his comment. "Especially those I like."

We had spent the afternoon talking. Well, it ended up that I did most of the talking and Edward did the asking. It felt a lot like twenty questions, except there was a hell of a lot more than just twenty questions. At one point, he'd ask a question and I would reply almost immediately with the first thing that came to mind. It ended up being quite comical, actually.

"Okay," I said finally, just as Edward was about to ask another question, "enough about me, I want to hear about you."

He looked disappointed for a moment and was about to say something when the front door opened.

"Bella!" My father's voice filled the house. "I'm home." And then he headed straight for the kitchen. I heard the refrigerator door open and close, and then some cabinets.

"I think that's my cue," Edward said, standing up from the couch. I stood with him, trying to be as graceful but failing miserably.

"I'll walk you out."

We walked to the front of the house and out the door. It was colder outside and I shivered. Edward noticed and slipped off the jacket he was wearing and put it around my shoulders.

I mouthed thanks, and he caught it. We continued on to his Volvo, which was parked on the street across from the house. We stopped at the driver's side door and turned to each other.

"I had a wonderful time with you this afternoon, Bella," Edward said, looking down at me with a smile.

I couldn't help but smile back. "I did too. Even if you did tell me I'm a freak."

Edward let out a frustrated sigh and rolled his eyes. "You're never going to let me live that down are you?"

"Never," I laughed.

"So I was thinking…." Edward suddenly seemed a little shy. It was quite cute and I couldn't help but keep smiling at him. "Would you like to come over to my house tomorrow after school?"

"Like to hang out?" This was very unexpected. But it was a happy unexpected. I was screaming on the inside, dancing in my head and congratulating myself for not scaring him off. I was so happy that he wanted to see me again.

"Well, yeah. I want to know more about you. And I know you want to know about me, so –"

"Sure," I said, interrupting him. "I'd love to."

Edward's face was illuminated by a dazzling smile. I almost forgot everything. My sole focus was on how beautiful he was. "Great. I'll see you tomorrow at school, then."

I nodded because I couldn't speak. Edward laughed lightly and bent down to kiss my cheek before he slipped into his car. He was gone before I even realized what had happened.

The rest of the evening was kind of a blur. I ate a little dinner and excused myself to my room, claiming tiredness. I dressed in my pajamas and lay on my bed and spent the rest of the night thinking of Edward Cullen.


End file.
